Staphostatin B from Staphylococcus aureus

Staphostatins are a novel group of inhibitors with a unique specificity for the regulation of staphopains, Staphylococcus spp. cysteine proteinases. Staphostatin A and staphostatin B from S. aureus have been characterized in details. Staphostatins interact specifically with this target proteinases forming tight 1:1 and stable non-covalent complex, staphostain A with staphopain A and staphostain B with staphopain B with no cross interaction observed and with very narrow specificity limited to staphopains

The loss of staphostatin B (SspC) expression in S. aureus and the subsequent increase in secreted protease staphopain B (SspB) activity resulted in numerous defects including reduced growth, decreased autolytic activity, resistance to lysis by S. aureus phages, and the inability to secrete proteins into the extracellular matrix.